Abraham Vargas pushed the boy’s mother out of the way as she loaded the child into the vehicle, which was found unoccupied about five hours after the alleged kidnapping.

“The neighbors had seen him, he’d gotten close to me, or spied on me. One time, the police came but they didn’t find him,” the boy’s mother, Beatrice Perez, said in Spanish during a Friday news conference.

Although Perez had obtained a restraining order against Abraham Vargas through a judge, it was never served and therefore not in effect, police stated Friday.

“There was a restraining order on file,” LAPD Capt. Gerardo Lopez said. “He had made previous statements to other folks that if he had the opportunity he would take his child and flee toward Mexico.”

The boy was last seen wearing a red sweatshirt and blue sweatpants, Officer Norma Eisenman with Los Angeles Police Department Media Relations said.